Provisional 2020-01 season dates released

Greensnet Editor
Sun 19 Jul 2020, 09:33

Following updated guidance from the Football Association we have received confirmation of the provisional dates for next season from the Southern League.

The current intended start date for the league is Saturday 19th September with the 1st qualifying round of the FA Cup to take place on Tuesday 22nd September and there is an end date of no late than Saturday 15th May 2021. Of course, these dates are subject to change depending on the national COVID-19 situation.

Our pre-season programme has been finalised and will be released shortly, however with a ban still on gatherings of more than 30 people they will be played behind closed doors.

The FA is actively seeking advice from the Departure of Culture, Media and Sport around what needs to be in place to lift this, but there will be a full risk assessment undertaken at Silver Jubilee Park and as and when supporters do return (current intention is for that to be allowed in time for the start of the league campaign), it is anticipated that social distancing rules will be enforced for queuing and around the ground.

The constitution of the league will be confirmed in the coming couple of weeks after which the fixtures will be released - we will of course bring them to you as soon as we have them along with all of the other news around the return to football in due course.

We're looking forward to getting back to action now and Lee has already begun to prepare for the new campaign in earnest now that he has a date to work towards.